“Pakistan 🇵🇰 ~Islamabad Visit for Planning Purposes”

• November 7, 2020
• By Pen
• 4 Comments

We are in Islamabad, but it will be a short stay.

What we did for this midway point to Islamabad, was rely on a bus, so I reserved a one-night guesthouse booking in advance, only, to see how we liked it, after arrival. We feel accommodations are overpriced for what we get in the budget range. We always go for clean and hot showers. So far, we have had a clean room, and cold showers. (We are told to our face there is hot water). I booked online for Islamabad, and we were suppose to have a watching machine, plus other amenities (all listed). Very nice people, but the list of amenities was a farce. The price was right at $18/night so we stayed to plan our next move, and we will get laundry done next week.

Bless my husbands’ sweet heart, because the next morning, he got up and searched for a camera/lens repair place, while I stayed in the room to relax. I am taking the day off from wearing my head-to-toe Islamic cover, plus I needed to work on logistics for our next stop. Daryl returned with no fix. In hindsight, we should have stayed in Lahore one more extra day and left my camera at the repair place we did find…. because the camera place here in Islamabad ships their repairs to Lahore. 🤪That would be two days in travel time, plus the repair. I did get a temporary fix on my camera lens in Lahore, so hopefully the “bandaid” will hold for awhile.

Not having a rental car is an adjustment for sure. We want our freedom, back! Language is a barrier and additional expensive for a driver is over budget. The owners of the businesses usually speak English, but not the drivers. Whenever countries deal with mountain range you get two things: 1. LOTS of driving distance, and 2. Pristine beauty for the effort. We might not be the typical and average visitor, but we are perfectly capable and experienced. Slow and steady wins the race! That’s our motto

So far I feel like my feet have cement blocks on them. This is too slow to get answers from rental car companies. Im just not as patient as I used to be. We are being told renting a car is possible, but we can’t leave Islamabad! We did not come to Islamabad to stay. We don’t want to rent a car and drive around the city, especially cities in Pakistan. Its nuts. Islamabad is the capital city, but it does not feel very connected as one. Lahore was our big city and cultural visit, and we loved it. We are filled up for big cities. Now, we want wide open spaces to explore the beauty of the land. Flying is an option, but we miss all the beauty of driving, if we fly. Plus, if we have to fly, it will be to go to another country. Flying is. headache, and we only do it when we have to. My idea was to go to the airport to see what we could find in a rental car options. We don’t want to pay for a car and a driver, which is what we feel like is being offered. I’ve been in contact with a rental car company in the city and he doesn’t know why we want to drive ourselves. We want 17 days with a rental car, so our ace in the hole is that somebody will want our business, because that’s good money for them. The man on the phone said he would look into our request and call back. He is not calling back. More wasted time. Okay, by the third rental car company inquiry and a full morning gone, we have a rental car being delivered to us at our guesthouse, tomorrow! (we hope) No price gouging and no requirement to pay for a driver, as well as the car. Now, we must get an Uber to get to a bank that takes our bank card. We have used an Uber three times and they are the best deal in town. They are timely and cheap, and courteous. Cash only, of course. There is little need for talking with the driver, as with the app, its best.

So, hopefully we leave for Kashmir, by Sunday, (tomorrow) which is a 2-hour drive from Islamabad. We have no idea how to get there, yet, but it does not look like buses or trains go north from here. Islamabad was only built 60 plus years a go, meaning, when the British colonise here and built railroads, Islamabad was not on the map, yet. We want to rent a car, or if forced to; rent a driver with the car. Kashmir is suppose to be quite beautiful and interesting. We shall see. After that, the north will require a lot of miles to get to, but we are motivated. 

Wifi is not very good, since leaving Lahore, and the 4G is not great, either. It comes and goes. We can post a little on FB, but posting on this blog, on our website, we struggle to get our worked saved in draft, without risk of losing our work. Strange, but we roll with it till we CAN post.

We are doing upper lower budget, but it is harder travel days and nights, right along with the logistics to put a plan in place. This is not saying we require much, but hot showers, and a small fridge are a bonus. When I say it’s a bit expensive here, it’s like the cost of a city museum at $10 pp, that has a value of $3 pp. We still can’t get over 20 pieces of KFC for $24. Food is very spicy, as I said, even the Chinese food has turned against us! Accessing our funds (bank) from home is the hardest part. Only a few banks allow our USA bank card. The first time it cost us $36 in fees to get $15. $15 wont pay for one night in a hotel, here! The second stop went better at another bank and I have made a note of that bank name for future reference, while in Pakistan. To make it even more odd, the bank person (inside bank) couldn’t believe we needed $400. He thought that was an insane amount to ask for. This is a cash and carry country which leads us to believe; either assumed we were in country for just a week, or, we are getting overcharged for food, lodging, drivers, and entrance fees, etc. (not in every case, but in most). This happens in other places around the world, too. Locals pay $1 or it’s free, and tourists pay $20 for the same entrance fee. So far though, for us, India and Pakistan are the only countries where it has been challenging to find banks that accept out bank card.  India was so cheap our money went further. The accommodations are similar, but the prices in India matched what we got. (The north was cheap, the central and south were higher priced, but still doable in India) Most travelers can avoid all the hassle and book a tour. This is a great way to go, but more expensive and not feasible when traveling full-time. We have a budget and we stick to it, so we can keep living our dream. We also like the off-the-beaten-path places, which tours do bot go to. Some countries are harder to visit than others, the way we do it. It’s the ebb and flow of self-travel. While we aren’t always super comfortable, it is always worth it in the end; because of what we get to see and experience.

I do not say any of this to discourage travel to Pakistan. In fact, we encourage it, though Pakistan is not without its issues. We vowed to keep it real and we do. You will find very kind and helpful people, here, especially those who speak some English. It has taken us a week to feel comfortable, here. Not for safety, but because of the lack of infrastructure. It’s doable, but challenging.

Tomorrow we head north, and we can’t wait!

If you missed the story on how my lens got broken, here is the backstory:

Earlier we had stopped at the camera repair place to have my Nikon looked at. I never mentioned this, but a while back, while visiting Bulgaria, and walking around another old city; this time along the Black Sea, a young boy came barreling down the “pedestrian only” walking area on a bicycle, and slammed right into me. I couldn’t believe it. One minute I’m walking upright, and the next, I’m picking myself up off the ground and helping the little boy up. He kept saying how sorry he was and he was embarrassed. We would both live to see another day, save some bumps and bruises, but what did take the hit in the “crash” was my Nikon camera. Not my camera! 😩 At first I noticed a chunk was missing from the rim of my camera lens, but the glass was not broken. (Very grateful)! Soon, I noticed the lens wiggled loosely, instead of being tight, when attached to my camera body. I was unable to focus anymore, as the motor in the AFS makes terrible noises and no longer gives me sharp photos. I had to trash so many good photo ops! 😟 Ejaz found us the camera district and we found somebody who kind of put a band-aid on for now, by tightening screws. He told us the AFS can be fixed, but he would need a few days. We were leaving, so could not get the repair right then. We paid for his work and diagnosis (a thousand rupees/ about six dollars) and made a plan to stay at our next stop a few days to get my camera fixed.